Arizona Adventures

1/10/13 Hello from the Arizona desert near Quartzsite. Today is the first day of a 4 or 5 day run of windy and cold weather for this area, with night time temps in the high 20’s. Hard to believe that a lot of RVers come here for the winter because it is warmer than where they normally live! We have been here for 5 days and have been trying to catch up on travel planning and internet chores, while enjoying the company of Mike & Marilyn Harrison, who are parked near us. Today more Boomers started pulling in, and now there are about 6 rigs here. The Boomer rally is supposed to start on Jan. 14th, so we expect lots more. Last year there were over 115 rigs here. Since it is so cold this year, there is a good chance we won’t top that number. Prior to arriving here we were staying with Ron & Carol Leonard at their casita in the Foothills of Yuma. Bill & Sue Abbott were parked next to us. We arrived there mid-afternoon of Christmas Eve day, and had just enough time to throw together an appetizer for the Happy Hour at Jim & Diane FisherBaker’s, which is nearby. Had a delightful time with the gang with which we would share all the holidays: Jim & Diane, Ron & Carol, Sue & Bill, and Jack and Suzie (AKA the Little People). Christmas Day we all contributed to a great meal held at Ron & Carol’s casita. This is a picture of the guys:

from left to right : Jack, Bill, Ron & Jim. Here are some of the ladies: Diane & Sue, with Carol in the background.

We also had a Happy Hour on Ron & Carol's patio and a bunch of the Boomer's in the area all came:

A RV friend, Eileen Cooper, whom we met in 1995 in Alaska. has now settled in a home in the Foothills. She now has a new man in her life, Neil, so we were delighted to be able to go to their place for dinner. Here are the lovebirds out in her yard:

After dinner we enjoyed a game of Pegs and Jokers. The extra guy in the picture is Gary, Eileen's stepson.

There was an amazing full moon that night also:

The next day was Carol's birthday and she wanted to go to LZ Bar and Grill for brunch because of their fabulous Bloody Marys. You can see in the following picture that the drinks have a whole skewers of veggies, shrimp, and other goodies on them:

Elaine, Diane & Jim FisherBaker also enjoyed a Bloody Mary:

Jack and Suzy were also with us, but you can hardly see them in this picture:

Later in the day, Diane and Jim had us all over for dinner, and a cake for Carol:

Dan & Jenny Shepherd had several Happy Hour parties at their casita. Here are Dan & Jenny:

This enabled us to meet new Boomer friends as well as catch up with friends from former years. We reconnected with Dean Caldwell and his new love, Dana:

New Year's Eve we all were invited to Jack & Suzy Water's new house for a great taco salad dinner. Here they are in their newly renovated kitchen:

And here is the gang enjoying some social time in their living room:

The next day our cruise friend, Denice Osborne, came over for a visit, bringing some homemade cookies. Yum. Her husband, Rick, was sick so he couldn't join us.

Now that we have relocated to Quartzsite, we are having some nice sunrises and sunsets over the desert. The other day I was up early enough to catch this sunrise shot:

Yesterday we were happily surprised when Jerry and Nancy Hurley arrived and parked right in front of us. We had a catch-up visit with them and then decided to enjoy the sunshine and have Happy Hour outside at Mike & Marilyn's firepit. M&M had gone to Phoenix, but we were also joined by Ann & Mick Meilicke, who arrived mid-afternoon. This is Jerry and Nancy with Elaine:

Here is the happy group around the campfire:

We will be here until the end of the month, having more great RV times with the Boomers.